Reading List

The National Book Critics Circle recently published their list of Good Reads of 2007, the result of an online survey of their members (800 of them) and writers (including John Updike, Cynthia Ozick, and others) and their member critics. The long list for fiction (alphabetically within the number of votes received--i.e. the first four received equal votes) follows.

Some of my favorite writers in here, and some new ones. If I had a million dollars... guess what I'd be buying? OK, first I'd be buying all of my debt. But then after that, I'd get these books and settle in until spring. And order in Thai food a lot. As it is I'll have to wait until our little library picks some of them up:

Michael Chabon, "The Yiddish Policeman's Union,"
Joshua Ferris, "Then We Came to the End,"
Per Petterson, "Out Stealing Horses,"
Philip Roth, "Exit Ghost,"
Alan Bennett, "The Uncommon Reader,"
Susan Choi, "A Person of Interest,"
Richard Price, "Lush Life," "
William Trevor, "Cheating at Canasta,"
Pat Barker, "Life Class,"
Brock Clarke, "An Arsonist's Guide to Writers' Homes in New England,"
Don Delillo, "Falling Man,"
Matthew Eck, "The Farther Shore,"
Anne Enright, "The Gathering,"
Molly Gloss, "The Hearts of Horses,"
A.L. Kennedy, "Day,"
Jhumpa Lahiri, "Unaccustomed Earth,"
Adam Langer, "Ellington Boulevard,"
William Maxwell, "Early Novels and Stories,"
Lydia Millett, "How the Dead Dream,"
Michael Ondaatje, "Divisadero,"
Manil Suri, "The Age of Shiva,"
Chris Abani, "Song for Night,"
Daniel Alarcon, "Lost City Radio,"
Sherman Alexie, "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,"
Charles Baxter, "The Soul Thief,"
Amy Bloom, "Away,"
Charles Bock, "Beautiful Children,"
Robert Bolano, "Nazi Literature in the Americas,"
Roberto Bolano, "The Savage Detectives,"
Jon Clinch, "Finn,"
Jonathan Coe, "Rain Before it Falls,"
Annie Dillard, "The Maytrees,"
Stephen Dixon, "Meyer,"
Andrew Sean Greer, Khaled Hosseini, "A Thousand Splendid Suns," "The Story of a Marriage," Ha Jin, "The Free Life,"
Marina Lewcyka, "Strawberry Fields,"
James McBride, "Song Yet Unsung,"
Ian McEwan, "On Chesil Beach,"
Pascal Mercier, "Night Train to Lisbon,"
Ann Patchett, "Run,"
Meg Rosoff, "What I Was,"
Bernard Schlink, "Homecoming: A Novel,"
Matthew Sharpe, "Jamestown,"
Jim Shepard, "Like You'd Understand, Anyway,"
Michael Thomas, "Man Gone Down,"
Marianne Wiggins, "The Shadow Catcher."